Beatrice Webb 
Manor and the Borough [PDF ebook] 

Originally published in 1963, this book examines the English Local Government, and more specifically, the Manor and the Parish, considering the various exemptions, immunities and franchises which enabled the inhabitants of particular localities to exclude the authority of the county at large, or that of one or other of its officers, and thereby enjoy, within their own favoured areas, some peculiar forms of self-government. The book includes chapters on the city and borough of Westminster, the boroughs of Wales, administration by municipal democracies and the municipal revolution.